Microsoft has draped a beginner's user interface (Metro) over the existing GUI

by dimitar • 14 years ago

34 7 14 years ago

shaydoc• 14 years ago

Its more like, a user interface that helps beginners, than a beginner's user interface. It's the first iteration of a UI that will improve and evolve. I really like it, particularly the emphasis on consistency in the metro app design guidelines. I like the search and share charms, the live tiles also work nicely. The emphasis on typography, space and no app chrome may not be new, but it certainly feels new and fresh on an O/S. The touch screen design guidelines are also well thought out, a simple example being the placement of common actions on the bottom right of this the screen when you swipe up, easy reach for the old right thumb! Regarding the hybrid desktop/metro situation, I think that is much ado about nothing, things can still be pinned to the task bar, I am not crying at the loss of the start menu.

ekianjo• 14 years ago

As the dead user below mentions, one of the issue is that there are sometimes no indication at all on screen on what you can do and cannot do. The problem with such an interface is that it is not "affordable" in the design meaning of the world. It does not provide clues as to what to do next. That is precisely why you had so many videos on youtube showing people testing W8 and not able to find how to shut down their computer. There is no way you can find out unless you RTFM. At least the start button was a way to centralize things. With metro, there is no center anymore and it looks very confusing.

freehunter2• 14 years ago

Is the author 12 years old? I mean, he speaks of using a 286, but then he throws 15 exclamation marks on bold and capital print and claims he has to disconnect from the Internet because Microsoft is spying on him.

How did this make the front page of HN? I thought people here cared about decent site design at the very least.

unkoman• 14 years ago

He is making valid points.

freehunter2• 14 years ago

Any person that gets their dirty, greasy finger prints on my monitor gets a FIST IN THEIR FACE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cry me a river and get off my lawn! I grew up on 256x192 in 16 glorious colors... on a blurry 14" TV screen, with RF interference both ways!

Oh, I see Microsoft is trying to sell monitors now.

Incredibly valid points, and that's just from the first page.

zachshallbetter• 14 years ago

Ugh, someone should have a discussion with him about design aesthetics.

townscd• 14 years ago

There are no valid points in this article. 1. The interface is extremely easy to use if you stop trying to use it like Windows 95, which seems to be the world you are stuck in. 2.The lock screen fails to tell you to do next, because anyone who has ever interacted with a computer knows to press a key or click when they encounter a locked interface. Not just phones, thinks screensavers. If this is a confusing concept, you should retire. 3. Touch is not required, so I'm not so sure why this guy is so angry about the addition of a way to interact. 4."OMFG!!!!! cloud connected apps require an account!!!! and I have to use them!!!!" Again, just because a thing exists does not mean you have to use it. If you have a different application, install it. 5.Closing Start menu apps took about 5 seconds to figure out without wasting a page on instructions. EX: "Oh, when i move my mouse to the left a recent apps thing pops up... and to the right I get a control Menu. I wonder what happens when i put my mouse on the top of the screen? Oh a hand, I can move this around and pull it down to close!" Seems like maybe you NEED a beginner interface guy, ever heard of curiosity? 6. "I don't want to memorize key commands!!!! I don't want a touch interface!!!! keyboards are dumb!!!! MOUSE ONLY FOREVER!!!" Apparently the only acceptable interface to this guy is a mouse, he refuses to learn keyboard shortcuts(that are in every version of windows btw, so maybe NOT learning them is the actual waste of energy) 7. The had to rename it because of a lawsuit. 8. The next several pages are just bitching about how the past was different and how there is no start menu, even though you've spent the previous pages talking about how its all that exists now, and how Linux won't work because he watches Fox News or something. In conclusion, according to a guy who has a website that looks like it was on GeoCities, the Windows 8 interface is both designed for children, but also too complicated for him. He needs to do real work, so much in fact that he only interacts with the user interface and makes no mention of the underlying improvements to the operating system. He laments having to use the start page to access all of the apps that he can now access from just the start page. He is so mad that you can now use touch in addition to mouse and keyboards, but is furious that he should know how to use the keyboard, and that he often has to move the mouse(even to the side OF THE SCREEN SOMETIMES! Can you believe that shit?)

Also, that pain in your leg, may be an embolism or deep vein thrombosis. It is often the result of sitting int he same chair since the 80's letting the world run past you.

Microsoft has draped a beginner's user interface (Metro) over the existing GUI

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